Breastfeeding rate in RP at 34% for past 5 years—Unicef

MANILA, Philippines—For the past five years, only 34 percent of Filipino mother exclusively breastfeed their babies for six months, Unicef country representative Vanessa Toobin said.

“This has not moved significantly since 2003 when the rate was 37 percent,” she said.

Health department’s Paulyn Ubial attributed the low breastfeeding rate in the country to advertising of breast milk substitutes which “glamorized bottle-feeding.”

Nuriza Abeja, founder of Beauty, Brains, and Breastfeeding, said breast milk—which in contrast to expensive breast-milk substitutes is free—has been unduly associated with the poor. Her organization seeks to counter the effects of the industry’s advertisements.

Dr. Soe Nyunt-U, World Health Organization representative, blamed the industry for aggressively promoting infant formula in developing countries like the Philippines and effectively changing people’s behavior here.

Over the same period, Soe said, industry has spent $480 million in promoting and advertising in the Philippines, in contrast to the $130 million it spent in the United States.

“Does that mean we are richer? It’s because the West has become more health conscious. To replace the market they lost in the developed countries, they are sifting to the developing countries,” he said.

Unicef’s Toobin, for her part, said the breastfeeding advocates sometimes have to go against health professionals who promote infant formula. Sometimes, she said, it’s also the lack of facilities for breastfeeding and expressing milk in workplaces that discourage mothers to exclusively breastfeed their babies for six months. –Veronica Uy, INQUIRER.net